


100 Stories of Pokemon

by ZidLun



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types
Genre: Drabble Collection, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-15
Updated: 2018-03-27
Packaged: 2019-03-31 15:25:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,434
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13978002
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ZidLun/pseuds/ZidLun
Summary: A collection of drabbles I write when they come to me. I've recently come across a lot of Brendan/Calem stuff that's gotten my muse going, so the first few will probably be that pairing, but I'll most likely add more pairings later.





	1. Chapter 1

Brendan had always loved dancing. The opportunity didn't come up very often, but he would dance for hours when it finally did. Once Brendan became Hoenn's Champion and sought to diversify his abilities, dancing was one of the first lessons he picked up. Since then, he had danced both for show and for his own entertainment. It had never become an everyday activity for the boy, but he made sure to keep up with it enough to avoid getting too rusty. It wouldn't be charming to step on a future partner's toes, after all.

Calem learned about Brendan's love for dancing a couple of years ago, long before they started dating. At the time, Calem had a chuckle at it. He could hardly see Hoenn's fabled child Champion as anything more than the hardy, unyielding, calculating trainer that tore through any challenges that dared to stand in his way. Now, Calem struggled to see Brendan as anything other than his goofy, playful, and loving boyfriend.

Two years later, they still hadn't had their first dance. Thinking back on it, Calem blamed himself for that fact. Their first and only conversation on the subject ended with him dismissing Brendan's invitation, laughing and remarking on his own complete lack of skill and experience. Calem could count on one hand how many times he'd been dancing, and he hadn't realized that Brendan's invitation was genuine. Brendan probably still remembered that conversation, too.

Calem couldn't change the past, as much as he wished he could go and change his answer. That wouldn't stop him from giving Brendan that part of his life back, though. One of Calem's many New Year's Resolutions was to give Brendan the perfect dance night. He spent many nights at dance class and many hours picking the perfect music and their order until, finally, the night presented itself. Calem wasn't expecting to put his plans into action so quickly, but one look at the low hanging moon and the feeling of warm, spring air finally setting in, he knew he couldn't pass it up.

The Kalos-native let out a long, slow breath to calm himself. He could feel his body trembling as the nerves set in, but he fought to keep them away. He couldn't permit doubt to sing in now. Once Brendan excused himself to take a shower, Calem went to work. He pulled out two glasses of wine and set them outside on the balcony, cleared anything that might get in the way, set his phone up, then waited.

"Calem?" the voice finally called, bringing a small smile to the man's lips.

"I'm out here."

It took only a moment for Brendan to step on the balcony and just a moment more before he realized that Calem was up to something. "What is all this?"

"It's a nice night. I thought we could spend it out here," Calem explained. It wasn't a lie, but Calem still found himself unable to make eye contact. Instead, his gaze found their way to the moon.

Brendan followed his partner's gaze as he stepped up beside him and wrapped one arm around the other's waist. "It is a nice night. I am so ready for spring."

Calem giggled as he leaned into the other man. "I know, I know. I've heard this all winter. 'Hoenn boys aren't made for cold' or something, right? Aren't you a Johto boy, though?"

Brendan snorted and turned to look at the other, only to find him holding a glass of wine up for him. "Here. Your favorite non-chocolate drink. Please save me from your complaints about snow and drink this."

There was a pause before Brendan rolled his eyes and accepted the drink. "You sure thought of everything," he remarked before taking a sip.

"Or maybe you're just predictable," Calem teased. He waited until Brendan set the glass down before wrapping his arms around the other and pulled him into a hug. As soon as Brendan returned it, Calem pulled a hand back to retrieve his pocket from his phone, pressed play, then set it on the railing.

"Music?" Brendan asked as he started to turn away, only for Calem to reach up and take one of Brendan's hands.

"Yeah. It's hard for me to keep pace if I'm not dancing to music," Calem admitted.

A small look of confusion spread across Brendan's face, followed by a broad, childish grin of realization. "Yeah?"

"Yeah," Calem said as he took the first step.


	2. Soulmates

For the third time that night, Brendan let out a loud sigh. “Rayquaza above, are you done with your quiz yet? I am ready for bed.”

Calem took his eyes off of his phone for a moment to look at his boyfriend. He hadn’t noticed, but Brendan was already in the same shorts and t-shirt he usually wore at night. He was ready for bed, and here Calem hadn’t even changed or brushed his teeth yet. 

With a sigh of his own, Calem reached down to caress Brendan’s back and hair. “Sorry. I’m almost done. Promise. Then we can go to bed.”

Brendan rolled onto his belly and buried his face in Calem’s lap. “What quiz is this one about? ‘What time period should you have been bored in?’ ‘Can we guess your favorite song?’ ‘What kind of potato are you?”

Calem snorted and flicked Brendan’s ear. “No, nothing like that this time. Actually, this one is about us.”

“About us?” The Hoenn-native repeated as he suddenly sat up and rubbed his ear. He curiously looked over Calem’s shoulder to look at the screen. “What about us? Like, a fun vacation spot or something? I vote someplace warm and sunny.” 

“Not exactly. This is a quiz to see if you’re my soulmate or not.”

Brendan shuddered as he laid down again, this time on his back. “Soulmates, huh? That’s a scary word.” 

Calem raised an eyebrow in confusion. “Scary?” he repeated as he looked down to the other, “I mean, I know you’re not exactly fond of commitment or anything, but scary?”

Brendan adamantly shook his head. “Those two things have nothing to do with one another.”

Calem bit his lip for a moment. That just made him even more curious. He finally settled on sighing and locking his phone, giving the other his full attention. “Alright. What makes it scary, then?”

“Destiny,” Brendan answered simply, as if that simple answer made everything clear.

“Destiny?”

Brendan reached out and took Calem’s hand into his own. Slowly, he traced along the other’s skin with his fingertips. His eyes watched his work, unwilling to look the other boy in the eye for the moment. “Well, yeah. I mean, think about it. Destiny is a scary thing. It kind of takes the choice out of everything. Do not get me wrong, the idea that there is someone out there so perfect for you that you can love them for your entire life, through thick and thin, is a beautiful one. It is just also kind of the law of averages. With all these millions of people in the world, of course, there would be someone out there like that.”

He chanced to look up to Calem, only to find an incredulous expression on his face. He inhaled and continued. “Okay. Here is what I mean. Destiny is a word people use so much, like it is some common and epic thing around us. I just cannot let myself believe in it. My father studied hard, made a solid friendship with a professor, depended on my mother, and pursued power all so he could become a Gym Leader. In turn, I worked my cute little butt off to become Champion. I remember my father reading me his college-level tactics books to me like they were bedtime stories. When I learned colors and shapes, I learned types and their advantages and disadvantages. I trained my Pokemon to the best of my abilities, I fought two teams bent on awakening terrifying legends, awoken another to stop it, became Champion, bested the brains, conquered in Orre, then became a Duke in Kalos. That was all my hard work. My strategies, my determination. If I was destined to accomplish those things, then what is the point, right? It was going to happen either way.”

Calem listened to every word Brendan said and considered them. He had hardly ever seen Brendan like this. He was the type to look you in the eye with a broad grin and a flirty wink. It was weird to watch him avoid Calem’s gaze, and the weight of his words was heavier than Brendan ever cared to be. “I see.”

In a flash, Brendan propped himself back up to a sitting position. “And I mean, look at you,” he continued, “we have been through a lot. You came to terms with liking another boy. I managed to settle in with someone in a long-term relationship. We have had a few arguments, and we have worked hard together. I like the idea that we made those decisions. We looked to each other and decided that person was worth the effort. We grew together not because fate says we are meant to be but because we did. That… that means a lot more to me that ‘soulmate’ ever could.”

A small smile played across Calem’s lips for a moment before he leaned in and kissed him. He could feel Brendan’s body stiffen in surprise at first before it finally eased to return it. 

Calem finally broke the kiss and nuzzled the other boy. “I see what you mean,” he said with a small chuckle, “alright. You’re right. I like that, I think, though I can still say destiny brought us together for us to make those decisions, right?”

Brendan gave a small nod in response. “You can believe whatever you like. That is just what I believe. Still, can you believe it in bed? I am tired.”

Calem rolled his eyes, but he finally relented. “Yeah, okay. Let’s go.”


	3. Brendan, Unattended

If someone were to describe the Hoenn region, one of the first words they're likely to use is 'warm.' Summers rarely reached above 90°F, and winters rarely seemed to drop below 60°F. For Brendan, this was life. Cold was light jacket weather, unless the journey took him to Shoal Cave that day. He lived to feel the sunlight against his skin, the salty air, and the spray of the ocean in his face. Yes, even in winter he was very comfortable in Hoenn.

However, this year he found himself in Kalos in the winter. The temperature was sitting at 36°F in the middle of the day, the snow outside was barely melting at all, and the power had been out since just before Calem had left to work at the Hotel Richissime. Brendan was miserable. He'd stirred himself into quite the foul mood over the day, complaining to himself about every little thing that was going wrong.

A few hours had gone by by the time he had managed to get himself finally settled down. By the end of it, he could do little but sigh. He would have been agitated enough as it was, but this time most of his frustration was with himself. Since he had moved in with Calem, life had been kind of amazing. Having someone that loved him and held him, understood him and believed in him, that was all amazing. And, last night, he had upset Calem for the first time.

Calem loved snow. When he saw the snowstorm had blown far enough west to reach them, he was almost giddy. Brendan, however, ended up complaining about the weather until he ruined Calem's mood. The defeated look on Calem's face and the quiet departure in the dark home still lingered in Brendan's every thought. It was a mistake that Brendan found himself genuinely regretting.

"I messed up, huh?" the former Champion asked no one in particular. For a moment, the shadowy silence around him was deafening. "Okay. Mistakes were made, and he left sad. Let's make sure he comes home to something happy."

 

 

It had been a long day, and Calem was exhausted. Brendan's crabby attitude had dampened Calem's spirits about the snowy weather he usually loved, not to mention that he had to spend the day in a house without power. He felt bad for Brendan, to be honest. He didn't mean to upset Calem like he did. Still, the Kalos-native hoped he was in a better mood when he got back.

After a long and tiring walk home, Calem had to stop in his tracks. There, right in front of his house, were two snowmen. One was wearing his usual jacket, the other a very familiar white hat. It was sweet, and looking at the furious footprints all around- and a few imprints of his boyfriend's fallen body- earned Calem's first laughter of the day.

"Joli garçon~?" Calem called as he finally entered the home, only to be greeted by the smell of smoke.

"No, no, no, no!" Brendan called as he rushed toward the door, "aww, you are back earlier than I expected!"

Calem raised an eyebrow in surprise. "I'm later from walking through the snow."

"Oh," Brendan replied, "it is possible dinner has taken longer than expected."

Calem shook his head as he straightened the apron Brendan was wearing. "How are you cooking with the power out?"

"Oh! Well, the stove would not come on, and I had fresh ingredients, so I tried to cook it over the fireplace. It did not go so well."

Calem's eyes grew wide, and he darted for the fireplace in question. "What?"

"I did not want to waste the fish!" he called out as he ran after him.

"The house smells like burned fish now!" Calem whined, "what?"

Brendan sulked. "Sorry," he sighed, "I just wanted to do something for you."

Calem sighed in return, but he couldn't help smiling, either. "What is my life. The undefeated boy Champion of Hoenn, trained from birth to be a powerful trainer by the fierce gym leader, Norman, conqueror of Team Magma and Team Aqua, is standing in my house in an apron, smelling like burned fish and haphazardly cooking over a fireplace. Brendan.... you are such a nerd."

Brendan offered an awkward smile as a wide grin spread across Calem's face. "Um... are you hungry? I have a romantic candlelit dinner of burned miso-zuke and peanut butter sandwiches ready."

Calem wrapped his arms around Brendan's waist and pulled him into a short kiss. "I would love to."


End file.
